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Announcements

A draft GRS Site Evaluation form has been uploaded for review. We welcome your input, which should be sent to dec.spar.grs@alaska.gov. The most current version of this form will remain available in Quick Links section of this page. Thank you for helping to improve its usefulness. (11/10/15)

Upcoming Events

No further public outreach or evaluations are expected until summer of 2017

Primary Participants

Background

This website describes the process used to develop GRS to protect sensitive coastal environments along the Alaska coastline. GRS are oil spill response plans tailored to protect a specific sensitive area from impacts following a spill. Environmental conditions at GRS sites frequently change according to season, storm impact, erosion, substrate redistribution, and other factors, so GRS are intended to be flexible, allowing spill responders to modify them as prevailing conditions dictate. These response plans are map-based strategies that can save time during the critical first few hours of an oil spill response. They show responders where sensitive areas are located and where to place oil spill protection resources. You can learn more about Geographic Response Strategies by reading our Frequently Asked Questions.

For the purposes of oil spill planning, Alaska has been divided into ten regions, or Subareas. GRS have been developed within each Subarea by workgroups under the Subarea Committee's governance. GRS workgroup participants include State and Federal resource trustee agencies, local spill response experts, and local stakeholders. Public involvement is essential to ensure sites selected and the strategies developed reflect the environmental protection priorities of local communities, stakeholders, and resource users. Links to GRS within each subarea are shown to the left.

The Geographic Response Strategies (GRS) and tactics described on this site and in the subarea plans, are NOT prescriptive in nature. They are recommended deployment configurations for initial responders. They can, and should, be adjusted to fit the current situation and environmental conditions.